x1

There are only a few Windows 8 laptops in production that we can consider to be the ‘high end’, machines with exacting build quality and specifications to match. While many PC makers are content to push out hum drum machines with middling specs and so so performance the same cannot be said for Lenovo and their ThinkPad range. Over the years their quality and reliability have become legend amongst the most demanding of laptop buyers.

The ThinkPad X1 comes in a body woven from Carbon fibre in a style similar to that of the current crop of Ultrabooks. Lenovo seems keen on finally shunting the look of their machines forwards and have recently adopted Chicklet keyboards and of course the wedge shape body design we have all come to recognize of late. I’ll be kicking the tires on the X1 to see how well Lenovo have melded the heritage of ThinkPad with the modern styling of an Ultrabook.

Those of you holding out hope that the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 will get an official update to Windows Mobile 6.5 can let that dream die. An SE rep apparently has told Crave Asia that there will be no update, quit asking, now go buy the Xperia X2. (OK, we made up those last two parts.)

It's a little tough to tell by this (apparently old) video running at a blistering 5 frames per second or so, but what we're squinting to see purportedly is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2, with Windows Mobile 6.5 on board, no less.

It's tough to really get a feel for how the OS runs on the phone because the quality of the video is so poor, but we do get to see some of the specs, which . They are:

Think you have to wait a long time to get the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1? Our friends on the Rogers network in Canada have had to wait even longer. But their wait is finally over, as the phone finally is available, and with carrier subsidy, no less. Here's the price breakdown:

3-year: $249.99

2-year: $449.99

1-year: $549.99

Outright: $599.99

So congrats, friends. Not only do you get the X1, you can sign away a couple of years of your life and get it on the cheap, relatively speaking.

So we've had the Xperia X2 leaked shots floating around, and about all we knew was that we were looking at a horizontal slider with an 8.1-megapixel camera. Now we're getting some leaked specs to go along with it, and they're doozies.

8.1MP camrea with autofocus, VGA video at 30 frames per second.

A 3.5-inch WVGA OLED touchscreen.

aGPS

3.5MM headphone jack.

Accelerometer.

"Faster processor" (the X1 has a Qualcomm MSM7200A running at 528MHz)

512MB RAM

Custom Windows Mobile 6.5 (SE engineers customized Win6.5 which runs very. very speedy. in par with iPhone and better in some cases)

Upgrading to Windows Mobile 7 is supported by Xperia panels

If all that turns out to be true, it could very well leave the HTC Touch Pro 2 behind. Of course, if the X2 takes as long to come to market as the X1 did, it might not matter.

Remember that leaked shot of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 from the other day? Here's one, bigger and better, and with a look at it from behind. Looks like the rear-facing camera has a flash, which is good. As for the rest? Start your guessin'.

One of our favorite rumors that keeps going and going but never really getting anywhere is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2. The follow-up to the Great Experiment known as the X1 has been seen in fits and starts, but there's still nothing really concrete to go on.

But in this shot obtained by Engadget, we do see a Windows Flag key in the top left of the keyboard. So, that means there's a Windows Flag at the top left of the keyboard. Whether this is a prototype of an upcoming devices or something since scuttled is anyone's guess.

OK, so the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 didn't exactly sell like hotcakes, at least in the U.S. Lack of carrier support (and a high unlocked price) will do that to a phone. And while there have been grumblings that SE was getting out of the Windows Mobile game, we're now getting a brief mention that an X2 is in the works from GigaOm [via] in a piece about Skyhook, a Boston wireless company. Emphasis ours

Once Skyhook was designed into the iPhone, Google folks took notice of Skyhook and started to develop their own competitive offering, which is being offered for free, while Skyhook charges for its offering. Morgan admits that the company has lost a couple of deals because of free offerings. For instance, the X2 edition of Sony Xperia phone (Windows Mobile-based) uses geolocation data from Google.

That's all we get. Assuming this isn't just a typo, it lends a little more credence to an early rumor that SE planned to continue the Xperia line with Windows Mobile. If it is a typo, then a whole lotta people are getting excited over nothing.

This year has flown by rather quickly and it seems like just yesterday Sony Ericsson announced their new Windows Mobile device, the Xperia X1. Way back in February of this year, we reported that Sony had joined the Windows Mobile family by introducing the Xperia during the Mobile World Congress. Since then we've diligently kept on eye on the rumor mill for a release of this device and continue to wait.

During that time we've had countless sightings of the Xperia, a few in-depth looks at the device and even heard that Sony was planning a developer competition for the Xperia's Sliding Panel interface (did that ever happen?). Released dates came and went with no luck in seeing the Xperia hit the shelves. September became November; November became December; and know we all look towards January (almost one year from the announcement) for the long anticipated release. Best Buy teased us by putting the Xperia on their website for pre-order, only to change the ad to "Coming Soon" a few weeks later. You begin to have the feeling that the Xperia X1a (the US version) is Sony's white whale and you're Captain Ahab sailing the seven seas.

The Xperia X1a (aka the version with the North American bands) has been wicked difficult to get. Rumor has it that it was being held back for some reason after an initial shipment. Maybe it's the just-mentioned cracks, maybe it's the ROM, maybe it's that any association with Best Buy is a curse. With regard to that last point, Best Buy is cancelling the preorders they took earlier this year (ours included) because they “cannot get stock.”

So yeah, a lot of bad news. Here's some potentially good news, though. We already knew that Canadian carrier Rogers is picking up the Xperia X1 next year, but check out what pocketnow noticed: the bands listed for the X1 are “HSPA 850/1700/1900/2100.” That, friends, is the kind of 3G that T-Mobile users can get jiggy with -- and if any carrier is so retro as to 'get jiggy' with anything, it's T-Mobile.

Anyway, tell us: are you still holding out for the X1a or have you relented and gone for a Touch Pro/Fuze?

Now we bring mention of the X1a's romp through the Federal Communications Commission [via Engadget Mobile], including some obligatory FCC-style candid external and internal shots. (Warning: pdf links.)

So head on over to the FCC site if you're wanting to take a look at just what makes this guy tick. And then try to figure out how you can justify that much money for the thing.

Engadget Mobile has word that the phone that's been 'pending' for the US perhaps longer than any other we've been watching finally has an official release date and price. The Xperia X1a (that's the Xperia X1 with the US 3G Bands) will see US release on Friday, November 28th, for a whopping $799. That's an unlocked price, as you may have surmised, which means that as with the Treo Pro, there's no word yet on a subsidized price from AT&T. For now, it appears you'll be heading to sonystyle.com or an “authorized Sony retailer” to pick one up.

It seems like it's been an eternity since we gave the Xperia X1 an hands-on review back in April. In retrospect, it might have behooved Sony to keep the bugger under wraps a little longer. Actually, it would have probably behooved them to beat the Fuze (Full Review) to market or at least let us know a clearer release date before the Fuze came out.

Still, we now know it's coming on Black Friday and we know it's going to cost and arm and a leg. Will you be picking one up?

That ever-elusive Sony Xperia X1 appears to finally be getting closer to a U.S. release.

The Boy Genius Report has snagged an inventory sheet that has the X1(a) — that's the North American version — hitting Best Buy on Dec. 7. That's an "in-stock" date, which may or may not mean you can swing by and pick one up that day.

Still no official word on when AT&T may release the X1(a) along with the expected subsidy and rebates.

But the price you'll pay for the unlocked goodness? Try $800. Ouch. We're pretty sure we know what's going to be first on your holiday wish list.

Word on the street is that the third-party vendors who supply components of the device — think processor, GPS, radio and who knows what else that's packed into this thing — can't keep up with demand, and thus we still have seen neither hide nor hair of the X1 on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Xperia handsets are currently only in dribs and drabs, said the spokesman Harold Abstract opposite Tweakers.net. The problem in all countries where Sony Ericsson phone last month on the market. "We have a problem with the supply of components by third parties. That does not make enough parts on time, leaving too few copies of the device can be made."

What new info did we find out? Erm, not much beyond the possibility that Sony will leverage their giganto-corporate-syngergies to ship the phone with full length movies in some countries (Hi Spider-Man!). It's shipping on September 30th or later depending on carriers (read: AT&T is one of the “or later” carriers).

You can still follow the stylings of Johnny X in the future, the next episode is Sept 22nd. There's also an official, Sony-sponsored Xperia Blog, though visiting it makes you an 'xperiancer,' and we hear that it takes some pretty strong antibiotics to get rid of that.

Looks like the HTC Fuze is going to get a little extra time in the spotlight, as Sony Ericsson just confirmed to Engadget that the Xperia X1 is going to be delayed from their “2nd Half of 2008” to “December 2008 or January 2009.”

What I find odd is that it actually held up pretty well for our Hands-on Review of the Xperia X1 back in April. Engadget suspects that Sony Ericsson can't get a handle on making Windows Mobile 6.1 work cleanly and that's not a bad guess: jumping into making WinMo devices without any previous experience is hard.

Good luck to ya, SE, given how long you've been working on this since we saw it, we suspect you're going to need it.

It seems that dearth of information isn't just hurting us -- it's been painful enough that Tob!s over at Esato [via] has done up some renders of an Xperia X5, nice enough that some folks have taken it to be the real deal. Given how many iPhone-alike black slabs are out there right now, it's tough to blame them. Here's the 'specs:'

8MP Cam with autofocus and xenon-flash

8GB internal Memory

Full-Touchscreen

WiFi,GPS,UMTS

3.2 inch Display

M2 Slot

Not too shabby and actually realistic, but we'd prefer that the “M2” slot be turned into a proper microSD card slot, as happened with the Xperia X1